ACS Data Users Group

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  • 1.  ACS Income Inequality Data Tables for 2020

    Posted 12-07-2021 08:56 AM

    Hello everyone,

    I was wondering whether ACS data on inequality measures such as the Gini coefficient, median income by quintiles for counties with +65,000 inhabitants will be published for 2020. I could not find anything in the experimental data release. To my knowledge, the ACS local income inequality data is the best data for investigating local inequality trends.


    I am a PhD student in economics and would like to use the data for a Covid related research project :-)

    Thank you very much in advance!



  • 2.  RE: ACS Income Inequality Data Tables for 2020

    Posted 12-07-2021 11:08 AM

    You'll likely have to wait until the 2016-2020 5-year release.



  • 3.  RE: ACS Income Inequality Data Tables for 2020

    Posted 12-07-2021 11:23 AM

    As an aside, I find that the Gini coefficient (which is available in ACS) is a problematic indicator at the local level. At a national, or possibly state and county level, it makes sense, allowing you to compare the distribution of wealth across different societies/regimes. However, at a local level, I think it needs to be seen very differently. Although we might view income inequality in society as problematic, at the local level, it suggests social heterogeneity; high and low income level living alongside each other, interacting socially and economically. A low Gini coefficient at the local level usually means a segregated population; a gated community or a neighborhood of disinvestment. Curious if other people feel the same or differently, or have alternate indicators of inequality they use.